
Flylords caught up with Craig Baker, the Vice President of Business Development at Mayfly Outdoors/Abel Reels, to discuss the all-new Abel Reels + Spyderco Native 5 Knives. Check out the interview below to learn more about what goes into these machined knives.

Flylords: Tell us when and how this collaboration came to light?
Craig: We’ve had a knife collab idea up our sleeve for a few years now. Abel used to make a pretty nice knife, but we know there were better knife manufacturers than we’ll ever be. In fact, we looked at multiple partners for the deal, and Spyderco was certainly the best fit; and they’re a neighboring Colorado company. We met with their owners and left them a tricked out Abel reel to keep. They put the reel on their desk for the next couple of months, and according to them, everyone touched the reel and asked about its incredible finish. They knew they needed to do the collab with us. So we spent the next 9 months dialing in the shapes of the aluminum scales, the exact materials that would take our dyes correctly, and the blade steel. We love how they turned out. And they’re all made in Golden, Colorado, and anodized in our Camarillo, California art studio/anodize shop.Â







